Description
Physical description
badge
An upward curve of maroon cloth with rounded ends (Waring shape 4) which embroidered in yellow sans serif capitals 27TH CANADIAN ARMOURED REGIMENT, the initial letters C, A & R being larger.
Label
This title must date from after March 1942, which is when the Regiment converted to armour. It seems most likely that this particular title, using the Armoured Corps numeric title, dates from the period January 1942 to January 1943, when the Regiment was in 4th Armoured Brigade of 4th Armoured Division. When it left that Division it joined 3rd Tank Brigade and wore the black diamond with the grey central stripe of that Brigade with the abbreviation 27CTR superimposed over. When it became part of 2nd Tank, soon Armoured, Brigade, it reverted to a plain formation patch with a unit shoulder title. There is evidence that the units of 2nd Armoured Brigade used named rather than number titles. Such a title for this Regiment does exist, in the same colours but reading SHERBROOKE FUSILIER REGIMENT / CANADA. (To be confirmed)
Unit history: in May 1940 the Sherbrooke Regiment, a machine gun unit, and Les Fusiliers de Sherbrooke were mobilized and elements combined to form the Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment. This amalgamated unit served as an infantry battalion in Newfoundland from August 1941 to February 1942. In March 1942 the Regiment was re-designated an armoured unit in the Canadian Armoured Corps with the title 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Sherbrooke Fusiliers). It was allocated to the 4th Canadian Armoured Brigade in the 4th Canadian Armoured Division, at that time reforming from an infantry division.
The Division went to the UK in the autumn of 1942. When armoured divisions changed in spring 1943 to an establishment of one armoured and one infantry brigade, the Regiment was one of those displaced and it joined 3rd Tank Brigade and became, briefly 27th Tank Regiment. 3rd Tank Brigade was a provisional formation raised in the UK to administer the surplus armoured regiments following the re-organization of the armoured divisions. In June 1943 2nd Tank Brigade arrived from Canada but was immediately disbanded and the 3rd Brigade and its units re-badged as 2nd. Shortly thereafter it was re-designated 2nd Armoured Brigade and the Regiment reverted to being an Armoured Regiment.
2nd Armoured Brigade was assigned to an assault role for the invasion of North West Europe and was instructed to provide DD tank support. As the junior regiment in the Brigade, the Sherbrookes were assigned the follow-up role and did not field any DD tanks. They landed on D Day 6 June 1944 with the reserve 9th Brigade, 3rd Canadian Division, on Juno Beach, Nan White sector (Bernieres sur Mer) at about noon. In the early evening they formed the Brigade advance guard with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders.
(To be completed)
A 2nd Battalion served with the Reserve Army.
Formation History.
For a summary history of 2nd Armoured Brigade see INS 46.
History note
Associated person: John Tiffin Murray Stewart b. 1917, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. d. 6 August 1964, 47 yrs., heart attack. Service record: Gunner M 4044 RCA. 1942: Reg. H2, HQ RCA, 1st Administration Corps. RCA CASF (Canadian Active Service Force) 1st Division. 1943: Reg. H3, 3rd Field Regt. RCA CASF 1st Division. 1944: 1st A Wing. No. 1 CARU (Canadian Artillery Reinforcement Unit).
Family history: 11 December 1942, married Elfreda Joan, nee Knight, at Congregational Church West Wickham, Kent. 15 June 1945, returned Canada. 27 June 1946, joined by family (on board 'Letitia'). August 1948, all family return to UK ('Queen Mary'). Moved to family home, Cavendish Way, West Wickham, Kent. Subsequently bought house, Oak Avenue, Shirley, Croydon.
History note
Bibliographical sources: CANADA'S ARMY IN WORLD WAR II: Badges and Histories of the Corps and Regiments. F. R. Tripp. Unitrade Press, Toronto, 1983. FORMATION AND UNIT SIGNS OF THE BRITISH REGULAR ARMY AND TERRITORIAL ARMY. Major John Waring. Identification Pamphlet No. 1. Privately published, no date (c. 1950s) Key to Shapes of Shoulder Titles. THE CANADIAN SOLDIER In North West Europe 1944 –1945. Jean Bouchery. Histoire & Collections, Paris, 2003. http://www.regiments.org/regiments/na-canada (February 2006) Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War. Volume III: THE VICTORY CAMPAIGN, Operations in North West Europe 1944 –1945. Col. C. P. Stacey. Ottawa, 1960.
Inscription
27TH CANADIAN ARMOURED REGIMENT